Guidance From Above
by jay001
Summary: After a tragic death in her family, Haley is lost in her grief and doesn’t know what to do with her life. Moving to Tree Hill to live with her father, will the sexy new neighbour, Nathan Scott, provide difficulties in her life? Read full summary inside
1. Prologue

Guidance from above

Authors Note- Hey, I read a book recently about a teenager coping with the death of her mother's breast cancer (one that my sister brought home from school) and it is all in the form of notes and letters. It was such a beautiful book and made me cry on almost every page. Anyways, I was really inspired by it and an idea popped into my head. I've been at the computer writing all day.

If any of you have read any of my past work (yes, the poorly written stories with grammar that sucks) I hope it's going to be nothing like them because I read through them the other day and was actually embarrassed by them. I feel like I have improved but hey, who knows. :

If you guys like this I would really like to make it into a full story, because like I said, I have got such great ideas for this fic and where I am no longer at school I actually have time to write. Although updates will **not** be everyday, as much as I would love them to be.

So here we go. Hope you enjoy 

Summary: After a tragic death in her family, 17 year old Haley James doesn't know what to do in her life. She is lost in grief and is finding it hard to move forward with her life. Deciding her only choice is to start a fresh, she moves across the country to live with her father only to find out life in Tree Hill is harder than she first contemplated- what with Tree Hill's part girl, Brooke Davis, as her newly founded step-sister. And not forgetting the town's biggest bad boy, Nathan Scott, as her hot new next door neighbour.

Prologue

_Dear Mom, _

_This seems a little silly. To be honest I don't really know why I am doing it. Its just…well Vivian said it would help. You know Vivian, always trying to help. She's grieving herself but all she is caring about is taking care of me. Is that selfish of me? _

_I don't know. I don't seem to know anything anymore; you were always my go-to person whenever I needed advice or telling what to do. I know nothing anymore. I'm empty inside mom…I…I really don't know what to do. _

_I mean is this really happening? Am I really not going to see your face everyday, making pancakes, singing together in those crazy hats… those crazy hats? Do you remember them mom?_

_They don't hold as happy memories as they used to mom. Just thinking about them, anything, makes me want to burst into tears and never stop. _

_Everything just reminds me of you mom, my beautiful, caring, happy mother-the bravest person in the world. I suppose one day that will be a blessing but, right now, I would just much rather forget. _

_Oh god, that sounds awful doesn't it? What kind of person says that they would just rather forget the wonderful memories they shared with their mother? Well it's obvious isn't it-a terribly horrible one is who. _

_I am sorry…that's not the person you brought up to be your daughter. That's not the person I am- its just, well, I feel so angry right now mom. I just want to scream at whoever took you away from my world… we didn't have enough time together! Why couldn't we just have 5 more years! 5 more years and then you would be there to see me graduate, go off to college and maybe meet my future husband?_

_I envy the others - Vivian, Quinn, Joshua and Taylor I mean. You where there for them, you watched Vivian get married and have Anne-Marie. You watched Quinn become a successful journalist, you read very one of her columns and gave her support when she needed it. You were always there for whenever Josh and Tay had troubles at college, coming home drunk as anything, telling you horrendous stories about what they had been up to. But yet you never judged them- they were your children and you helped them out even If they had done something you weren't happy about. _

_Why can't you be there for me? I've got one more year till I graduate. One more year mom- couldn't you not fight a little longer? Did you not want to watch me grow up? _

_I'm sorry. I don't mean that its just now I've got to grow up with Dad…the man that left us all when I was 7 years old! Move to a town that I know nobody. Live in a house with no sign of you or the life we lived, just the two of us._

_In our little yellow house. _

_Why? I just….god I cant write no more. This is not a good idea. How on earth is this supposed to help? I am just getting even more upset. Not forgetting sounding like a jealous selfish little girl. _

_I love you mom, so much. I know I am angry right now…but I'll get pass this. I have faith in that._

_Yours forever _

_H_

_Xxxx_

"Haley? Haley are you okay?" A worried voice asked from down the hallway. Dropping her pen on the floor, watching it fall in slow motion, Haley scattered to her bedroom door. Sliding her self down the wooden barrier, hoping her weight would stop the intruder from entering, she shook in a silent weep.

This feeling, grieve, in her mind was the worst feeling in the world. How on earth could millions of people everyday go through it and came out the other end? The thought seemed to be near impossible to her.

"Haley, move away from the door," her sister, Vivian, gently whispered through the door crack.

Closing her eyes, imagining really hard that her sister would just go downstairs, she almost believed that she had obeyed her unspoken command when there was no noise.

"Haley?"

"No," she breathed out. Her silent weep no longer hushed. "No. I'm fine Viv, I just… I want to be left…left a…a…alone," she sobbed, no longer in control of her emotions. "Please just go."

"Are you sure sweetie? I've got chocolate chip ice-cream?"

When there was no answer, Vivian momentarily closed her eyes.

She didn't know what to do; How to handle a grieving teenager.

Suddenly a memory occurred in her head, rolling through a projector as if it were a movie strip.

It was when she was 15 years old; the day that she found out that Tammy Smith had been burned in a tragic house fire. Tammy Smith, her best friend at the time. It was a horrible day, one that she knew she wouldn't have been able to get through if it wasn't for the support of her mother.

An image appeared in her head, one similar to the current situation she was in with her sister, only it was her on the other end of the door with her mother sitting where she currently was.

Even though no words were spoken throughout that memory between the both of them, the fact that she knew her mother was sitting at the opposite end of the door, singing softly to herself…well it helped her a lot. Less than 20 minutes later she was out of her room, hugging her mom, thanking her for being there for her.

Feeling a tear run down her cheek, Vivian shook her head and opened her eyes. God, what was she going to do without her mom?

This was hell. Pure and utter hell, and worse yet all she could hear was her sister crying her heart out in the room next door.

"Hales, baby I'm not going anywhere." She could hear her voice breaking as she spoke. "I'm going to sit out here and wait until you're ready to talk honey. Just here baby."

Thirty minutes later, the large wooden door slowly opened and all that could be seen were two grieving sisters crying in each others arms…trying to get through the process of accepting their mothers death.

"I miss her so much Viv," Haley cried, holding on to her older sister for dear life.

"I know baby, me too. Me too honey."

"Are you sure she is going to be alright with Dad?" Josh asked Vivian, two hours later when he, Taylor and Vivian were sitting in the kitchen island, all picking at the never-ending stack of lasagne. Why is it that when somebody dies, all neighbours ever seem to bring around is trays and trays of frozen lasagne? The thought seemed a bit strange to Josh.

"I don't know…she reckons she wants to be left here on her own," Vivian sighed. "She reckons 17 years old is more than old enough to live on your own."

"No. That's not going to happen," Josh shock his head. There was no way on this earth that he was going to let his baby sister fend for herself…especially through this hard period of time in their life. "No way, if she really doesn't want to go to dads then I suppose I could drop out of college and move back here-"

"And what, look after her yourself?" Taylor piped in.

"Yeah, I'm more than responsible enough to look after her. I mean I could do with a break from school anyways."

"Don't be an idiot Josh; she would probably end up looking after you! When was the last time you ever went grocery shopping? Or did the laundry? Or- "

Josh screwed up his face. "Oh shut up Taylor, like you can do any of that either!"

"That's not the point! I'm not the one pretending to be a responsible guardian to our little sister."

"Will you two stop that?" Vivian ordered whilst raising a hand to rub her temples. "Jesus, you wouldn't think that we buried our mother only 5 hours ago the way you two are going at it."

"You're right, sorry Viv." Both siblings said in union, the guilt obvious in both of their voices.

"There's nothing to feel sorry about, it's just I'm trying to think of a solution for Haley and we're going to come up with nothing if you two sit here and argue."

Standing up from her seat at the kitchen island, Vivian walked over to the window overlooking the garden. Playing in the garden was her three year old beautiful daughter, Anne –Marie, and even through this painful stage in her life, her daughter still managed to bring a smile to her face.

"I just wish there was room in my house for her, but until Mark gets promoted at work we are not going to be able to have room in our house. Unless she shares rooms with Annie of course….but somehow I think that might not be the best solution."

"What about Quinn?" Taylor asked.

"What with her travelling around for work constantly, I don't think that would be the best idea either."

"Well what about if I just leave school and look after her? I seriously don't -"

"No Josh. You are not going to drop out of school for the sake of me."

All three heads swivelled to the different voice in the room. A look of sheer guilt appeared when they saw Haley in the arms of their other sister, Quinn.

"You don't all need to talk about me as if I'm a baby; I'm almost 17 years old guys."

"Your right Hay, sorry." Josh spoke. Jumping up from his seat, he walked over towards Quinn and took Haley out of her arms, squeezing them both into a hug.

"Are you two okay?" He whispered to them both. He hadn't had the chance to check up on them since the funeral a couple of hours ago, not with all the people at the wake asking him the same patronizing things over and over again. _"How are you feeling?" _They would all ask. His frigging mother had just lost her battle with breast cancer, how do you think he felt!

"Yeah," Haley spoke, a small smile appearing on her pale sad face. "We were just talking about my arrangements with dad."

"Dad?" The three other siblings asked in shock.

"So you're actually going to live with dad?" Taylor asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep." Quinn put her arm round Haley's waist and gave her a squeeze of support. "We've been talking about it and came to the conclusion that it's something she has to do, something we are all going to have to put effort into doing too. We've already lost one parent…we don't deserve to not know our other."

Since their father had left their mother 10 years ago, their relationship with him had been somewhat strained; especially for the younger siblings. They did maintain contact with him though, even if he did live hundreds of miles away in a small town called Tree Hill.

However, when he got promoted in his job and re-married to a money grabbing bimbo called Victoria Davis he seemed to be a changed man. None of them seemed to really have contact with him after that, except for that one time at Vivian's wedding.

"Are you sure that's what you want Bub?" Vivian asked Haley.

Haley looked around the kitchen, the kitchen that held so many memories of her and her loving family and nodded her head.

"Yeah, it's what mom would have wanted."

…………………..

I know there were no signs of Naley in this chapter, but this was only the prologue. Giving you some back ground information and stuff.

Leave a review if you liked 


	2. Chapter 1

Hey guys, thanks for the reviews. They were great. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer- I own nothing but the storyline. All characters belong to _One Tree Hill_.

Chapter One

_Four weeks later _

This was not how the day was supposed to turn out. Is this constantly going to be her luck from now on? Her first day of school at Tree Hill and Mother Nature decides to greet her with a rain storm?

Not only a rain storm, a friggin Hurricane it seems. Okay, granted it wasn't raining _that_ much but to Haley it seemed a hell of a lot. California didn't exactly have rain as the weather norm if you get where she was coming from.

God, she hated rain.

Stepping out from under the huge tree situated near from where the school bus had dropped her off, she quickly made an escape to the entrance holding her bag atop of her head. Running as fast as her little legs would carry her, which to be truthful wasn't very fast.

_Just focus on the ground and don't look around, _her mind was telling her. She didn't even want to begin thinking about how much of a fool she looked right now- her hair wasn't the best with humid weather to say the least, and frizzy hair wasn't how she wanted to start her first day. Plus, wet damp clothes sticking like glue to her flesh was not a good look. She just wanted to get out of this stupid weather as soon as possible.

Coming towards two double doors, which she took to be the entrance because of the 'WELCOME TO TREE HILL HIGH' sign in bold blue letters, she breathed in a sigh of relief. There didn't seem to be too many students hanging around at the moment so maybe, by the time she had been shown around campus and arrive to her first lesson, her clothes would have dried out and no damage would have occurred to her hair. She wasn't in the rain for too long after all.

However, as she went to open the glass doors she momentarily froze. Looking at her reflection, she wanted to just about scream. Her hair had not only got dripping wet and totally frizzy, it had started to go wavy too. It was times like this that Haley regretted getting her hair cut as short as it was. All her life she had had long auburn locks, however last year she decided it was time for a change. She had had it cut short in a bob just like, well Katie Holmes- not that she had been trying to copy her style, and even though it had grown a lot longer the past couple of months, her short layers still meant she couldn't put it up in a ponytail. Instead she has to keep it down every day, which is great when she can straighten it and it stays straightened but, as it seems, that would probably be mission impossible if the weather stays like it currently is here in Wilmington.

A sharp painful ache suddenly stung her heart as she remembered her mother's hair in her last few months of her battle against breast cancer. It had all fallen out, started slowly at first but as her sessions of chemo went on, more and more clumps just kept falling out. Before either of them knew it she was completely bald. The thing about it though was that Lydia didn't seem to mind. Instead of seeing losing her hair as the worst possible thing in the world – like many females would- she just kept her usual quirky banter and made jokes about how she was starting to look like Grandpa Joe.

Haley didn't know if that was all just a false, to try and make her feel at ease with her mother's tragic illness or whether she seriously did not care what her appearance was starting to look like. Whatever it was Haley really admired her mother's attitude, only a small thing on a large list of reasons on why she loved her mother so much.

_Loved. _The fact that she was already starting to think of her mother in the past tense really was starting to depress her. It had been only six weeks since her mother had passed away, but those six weeks have been the longest weeks in her whole entire life. Throughout them she had been battling many different emotions, some more harder than others.

However, slowly but surely she had started to accept her mothers death and was starting to just be grateful for the great 17 years she had shared with her. Didn't mean she still didn't have break downs though- or has yet become her old self.

It's been hard for her to say the least.

Two weeks ago was when she had first moved in with her father – someone that she has yet engaged in a full conversation with, and in those two weeks all she has found her self doing is hiding in her new bedroom looking at old photos and talking on the phone to her friends and family from California.

Apart from the odd glance at her new home, she hadn't even explored the town she was living in, which is typically a non-Haley like thing to do. Usually when her family used to go on holiday, she would be the first to explore the resort. It was always something so exciting to her.

The fact that she hadn't really talked to anyone in her household seemed a bit alien to Haley too. Her father, at first, tried to talk to her as if nothing had happened- something that outraged Haley and caused her to hide in her room. Ever since then, however, it's been very awkward between the two of them and only the smallest amount of conversation has been vocalised between the two.

She supposed it was her fault, and normally she would apologise to her father and try to get along with him but things had changed. He had changed and she has just decided that she has to start taking things step by step; today's step being to get to know her new school. Her living conditions will just have to wait another day.

Speaking of living conditions, even though Haley was fully aware that she had been cooped up in her bedroom for the last couple of weeks, she was yet to engage a meeting between her and her new supposed step sister. Sure, she had seen her in the house occasionally going to the kitchen to get a drink, but she was hardly ever there. They too hadn't spoken one word to each other, apart from the once "excuse me, your in the way of the fridge."

Frankly, the only person she has been talking to is Maria- the Spanish housemaid who must be in her late 40's. She is a lovely woman, somebody who has been giving her great advice on how to cope with her grief and, of course, not forgetting a hell of a great cook. The fact that her father had even hired a maid, however, has shown Haley what a changed man he is.

Life in Tree Hill was definitely going to be different.

_God, how I miss California, _Haley regretfully thought as she pushed open the glass doors and made her way through her new school.

………………………………….

"Hey, Haley James right?"

Sitting in the reception area of Tree Hill High, Haley was startled by the new voice in the room. Looking up at the doorway, she noticed a small skinny male smiling widely at her. Nodding her head and trying her best to act friendly, even though she was secretly scared shitless, she stood up from her seat.

"Yep, that's me."

"Sweet," the boy smiled again. "My names Mouth and I'll be the one guiding you round the school."

"Mouth? Is that actually a name? " Haley asked somewhat surprised. After she realised she had vocalised her thought she bit her bottom lip and apologised.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just said it without think-"

"Don't worry about," Mouth laughed, guiding her out of the reception area and down a crowded hallway. "Everybody asks it, but no is the answer to your question. It's actually my nickname. My real name is Marvin McFadden."

"Oh, fair enough. Nice to meet you Marvin McFadden," Haley smiled. She could tell where his nickname had come from; his mouth was actually rather distinctive.

"Well, it's nice to meet you too, Haley James."

The two carried on a gentle conversation after that, Mouth showing her all her classrooms, telling her what people to avoid, what teachers expect ect…

Haley, surprisingly, found herself to be having a pretty good time. Mouth was definitely doing a good job at easing her nerves and she actually found herself laughing at a couple of his jokes.

Laughing? The concept seemed so distant to her she felt a bit guilty. But then she pushed that feeling to the back of her mind. Her mom would want her to laugh and enjoy her first day at school; she could just imagine her haunting her in her sleep if she stayed miserable forever.

……..

About twenty minutes later Haley found her self entering her first lesson, English. Luckily enough for her, Mouth too was in that lesson so at least she knew somebody.

"Mrs Hyde is actually a pretty cool teacher, so I wouldn't worry about this lesson."

"Worry?" Haley laughed. "I love English."

"Right…."

"Hey Lips," somebody called from across the classroom. Screwing up her face, Haley turned to scan the classroom. _Okay, so there is somebody called Mouth, and Lips too? The next person I meet will probably be called arm!_

"Hey…umm Hey, Hey Brooke," Mouth smiled broadly, scattering his words just a little bit. Haley had to smile; the boy obviously had a crush. However, when she looked across the room to the girl who called him lips, Haley's stomach dropped slightly.

"That's Brooke Davis," Mouth whispered softly. When he saw her stand up from her seat however he suddenly sat down.

Haley raised an eyebrow, confused slightly on why he sat down. She couldn't contemplate that thought, however, because as soon as she knew it the pretty brunette was in front of them, narrowing her brown eyes.

After a silenced moment she spoke. "Hey Lips," she said, directing it to Mouth but looking directly at Haley. "Hey… _Haley_."

Shifting under Brooke's intense look, Haley tucked a stray of hair behind her ear.

Not really knowing how to respond she simply just nodded her head and said, "Hey Br-"

"Brooke, what are you doing? Why you talking to the new girl?" A deep voice, followed by laughter, called from where Brooke was previously sitting. Brooke smiled, looking at her group of friends, then looking down at Haley. "Just…being friendly." She then made her way back to her seat, whispering something in a curly blonde's ear as she went.

Haley sat down, in the seat behind Mouth, and ran a hand through her hair. She didn't trust that girl. She knew girls like her in her old school; the queen bee kind of girl. She bet bottom dollar that she was the captain of the cheerleading squad and that only meant one thing…trouble. She couldn't believe that she was her step-sister.

Maybe she was wrong, maybe she did just want to be nice, but Haley didn't trust her, especially from the hushed laughing heard from the back of the room.

"What was that about? Do you two know each other?" Mouth excitedly said as he turned around.

"Err…something like that," Haley muttered, opening her new notebook and writing the date.

………………….

A couple of hours later Haley found herself seated at a bench full of boys, including Mouth.

"Hey everybody, this is Haley," Mouth said as he sat down, next to a blonde boy reading a book. "She's new so I told her that she could sit with us."

"Cool dog, my names Skills" said a skin head, looking her up and down and nodding his head, making Haley laugh.

"Yeah, he's Skills, that's Junk, that's Fergie, and then my names Lucas," the blonde hair boy smiled, putting out his hand for her to shake. "It's nice to meet you Haley."

Haley smiled courteously, shaking his hand. "I guess nicknames are a big thing at this school huh?"

The boys laughed, nodding their head.

"Guess so," Lucas replied.

Looking down at the book Lucas was reading Haley raised her eyes. Picking it up of the table she smiled. "I'm impressed, John Steinbeck huh?"

"Well of course," Lucas said, "he is only the best author ever."

"I know right…I cried my eyes out when I read 'Of mice and Men' and George had to shoot Lennie… the way he evoked the emotions of every character-"

"Oh hell no," Fergie interrupted. "Please don't say we have another literature buff."

"Hey," both Lucas and Haley replied, before they all started to laugh.

The group then carried on eating their lunch, talking and joking around. It was then when Haley realised something…she liked this, socialising with people again. It had been so long since she had actually sat down, joked around and actually have a good time, it felt good. These boys were pretty cool too. She's glad she met Mouth, he has pretty cool friends.

"Well, well, well…" A tall dark haired boy suddenly said, coming up to the table and dropping himself down in the empty seat. Haley immediately noticed Lucas suddenly stiffen up, a scowl taking over his face. "If it's not Pucas and his friends."

A different boy, standing behind the one sitting down, hilariously started laughing, patting him on the back. "Yo Nate that's great dog. Pucas. Hahahahaha. That's hilarious."

Rolling his eyes, the one once sitting down, turned around to face him. "Shut. Up. Tim."

Raising his arms in surrender, Tim carried on laughing.

"What do you want Nathan," Lucas asked bluntly.

"Well… I just wanted to say hello to your," he then stopped talking and looked Haley up and down, "new friend."

Nathan smirked, enjoying making Haley shift under his intense look.

"Hey," he rolled out, nodding his head.

Haley started blankly at him for a second but then she rolled her eyes. "Hey," she muttered. She then looked away and carried on eating her lunch.

She stopped, however, when she noticed every one staring vacantly at her.

"What?" she asked.

They then burst into laughter, with the exception of Nathan and Tim.

"Whatever," Nathan muttered, standing up and walking away from the table.

"What?" Haley asked again, smiling when Junk patted her on the back.

"You, Haley James, are a legend," Skills laughed.

"What? Why?"

Lucas stood up, picking up his backpack from the floor and shook his head. "I think you're the only girl on this planet who resisted the Nathan Scott charm."


	3. Chapter 2

A-N- Hey guys, sorry it has taken me so long to get this out. It's just this past week or so has been crazy with Exams and revision but today was my last one which means its officially summer for me! Heehee.

Anyways, there is some kind of background information I would like to inform you all with:

Nathan and Lucas are brothers, both with Karen and Dan being their parents. They live together ect…been brought up together ect…but do not have the best relationship. Your find out why later lol. I have done this because I did originally want it to have a season one vibe….but this way I hope it does but also makes it a little different. Also, it works better for this story. Something that you will too find out later in further chapters lol.

Thank you all for reading and replying. It means a lot. You are all great. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter Two

Nathan sighed; he really was not in the mood for his father's lecturing tonight. Not after the hell of a day he had had at school and basketball practise. Stepping out of his newly brought porch, a bribery gift from his so called 'caring' father, he took one look at his house. Knowing what was going to come if he went inside he shook his head. Slamming the door shut he turned his direction and walked away from the house.

He needed some breathing space.

He seriously wanted to shoot the person who placed his father to be the substitute basketball couch. They had to be the most idiotic person in America, better yet the whole entire world.

Although, thinking about it, whoever invented crazy golf had to be pretty dense too. He hated that game, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he was terrible at it either. He just didn't see the point of trying to get a pee-size ball through a stupid windmill. It was for five year olds in his opinion.

Anyways, crazy golf put aside, who ever made his father substitute coach had to have no brains when it came to Tree Hill Ravens. His father was just a bully, a big, intimidating, bitter, jealous bully. And the whole concept of playing as a team when it comes to basketball never seems to enter his head. His attention is only ever on him, pointing out his flaws and, as it seems, none of the other boys. He doest even think he addressed any of the other players once.

_God, can he not spell? There's no I in TEAM idiot. Jesus, Whitey rattles on about it more than enough. _

What makes it even worse is that he knows the other boys are not happy, which to be honest if he was in their shoes he would be pretty damn pissed too. What is the point of even turning up to practise if they only watch him getting coached? He wished they would just stand up to him. He knew he would if he was in their position. Hell, he stood up to the jerk today at practise. He got so pissed of at his father's bullying behaviour he ended up throwing the ball and storming out. He didn't even look back to see who the ball hit.

Deep down though, Nathan knows that the boys wouldn't stand up to Dan. They are scared of him, just for the fact that he is Nathan's father, the same way most of the boys are scared of him. He isn't proud of the fact but where he's captain and has a reputation, no-one seems to stands up to him. It's probably for the fear of their reputation to be flattened or in some cases the life beaten out of them, he didn't really know. It didn't exactly make him feel good though- something that he would never vocalise to anybody. I mean his best friend looks up to him as if he is some kind of god for god's sake- that says something doesn't it?

Nevertheless, something weird did happen today… something that had never happened before. When he went over to his brother at lunch he seemed to notice him chatting up some frizzy haired girl. Just to annoy Lucas he decided to pay the girl a bit of attention because hey… who would be able to resist his charm?

Well, her it seems. She totally brushed him…something that had never happened in his life before and to be frank it did take him by shock.

Feeling his cell phone start to vibrate he pulled it out of his trouser pocket. Seeing his fathers name flash across the screen he shook his head and carried on walking.

He was not answering to that son of a bitch right now.

He was so damn annoyed.

Shoving the cell phone back in his pocket he cast his memory back to practise.

No matter what he was doing, how hard he was pushing himself; he was not good enough for his father.

Why couldn't he be like Lucas?

Just because he had HCM- a heart disease-something which meant he couldn't play basketball, it shouldn't mean that it's easier for him to get praise out of his parents.

Just because he was intelligent and would easily get an A in English, shouldn't mean that he should get an easier life.

Should it?

Many people would look at the Scott brothers and immediately wish they could be more like Nathan…the popular one; the one that had the whole school in the palm of his hands and was the captain of the basketball team. Many people would say he has an easier life but he knew he didn't.

Sometimes he really wished that he and his brother could just trade places, he being the intelligent one and Lucas being his father's pet dog. All Lucas had to do was go home and tell them how he was doing at school and his parents would be proud…he…well he is another story.

That's partly a reason why he didn't get on so well with Lucas, I mean they got on _okay_, occasionally, but they didn't have a great relationship, something that too was down to Dan.

Nathan shook his head. He seriously was getting to a point where he wanted to throttle his father, he was such a stupid idiot!

And the fact that he has now invaded the one thing that kept him sane, basketball, only enraged him more.

Basketball had always been his escape…but now it seems is father has ruined that too!

Feeling anger rise within his body, taking over his senses, he pounded his fist into the large wooden tree beside him.

Part of him _really _wished it was his dad.

"ERGH!" He shouted, punching it again.

"Ahhh." He heard a female shout. His anger, however, was still overpowering all of his senses and he didn't have the strength to stop. So instead he blocked the person out, all he kept picturing in his mind was his fathers same relentless words going round and round in his head.

"_You're not good enough Nathan."_

"_You could have done better Nathan."_

"_You didn't beat the record Nathan."_

"_You need more practise Nathan."_

"_You're not good enough Nathan."_

"_You're not good enough Nathan."_

"_You're not good enough Nathan."_

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" The female shouted, bringing up a hand to clench her chest. "Seriously, stop!"

"STOP," Haley screamed, moving forward and grabbing hold of his arm when she saw him about to punch the tree again. He was going to break his knuckles if he kept going on at this rate.

Feeling somebody grab hold of his arm, pulling all of their weight down on it to try and stop him from punching again, he stopped.

"Shit," he muttered looking down at his knuckle. It was covered in blood and hurt like a bitch. "Shit," he repeated again, shaking his hand to try and shift the pain away.

_As if that is going to do anything_ Haley thought. Grabbing hold of his hand she saw all the blood. "God," Haley slowly breathed out. "Are you okay?"

Nathan was stunned. He could not believe he had just done that. Looking at the small female standing in front of him he recognised her to be the girl sitting with Lucas at lunch time.

"You know your going to have to get this looked at," Haley gently spoke, feeling a little unnerved.

"What?" He snapped, feeling his embarrassment get the better of him. _Why did I have to do that? I bet I looked like a right psycho_. _God!_

Haley's eyes widened. Dropping his hand she took a step back. "Well excuse me for trying to help," she sarcastically retorted. "I'll leave you to break all your knuckle's next time, jerk."

Nathan stood there, startled by her fiery attitude. Watching her walk away something within him made him call out.

"Hey look," he called out, resulting in her turning around to face him. "I'm sorry, alright, I didn't mean to snap so much…I just…I guess I'm a little bit embarrassed okay?"

_Where did that come from? _He mentally asked himself. It's not like him to apologise.

Haley shook her head, herself conscious telling her to carrying on walking home and to leave the idiot to sort himself out, however something within her forced her to walk towards him.

As she got to him she briefly closed her eyes and shook her head. Opening her eyes she looked at his hand again. "Look, that looks like it really hurts-"

"Yeah, like a bitch," Nathan joked, trying to lighten up the mood.

Haley smiled, slightly. "You're going to have to get that cleaned up." She pointed out.

"Naa, I'm sure it's fine," Nathan tried to reassure, even though it was beginning to sting.

"Dude. You're bleeding and already coming up with bruises. Your going to have to get it looked at," Haley pointed to her left. "Look, I live right there, do you want me to quickly look at it? I'm sure we've got a first aid box somewhere."

"Why would you do that?" Nathan asked, somewhat surprised by her proposal. "I was a right jerk a minute ago."

Haley shrugged. To be honest she had no clue on why she just asked him that, but his hand seriously did look bad and she would only feel guilty all night if she just walked away. "I'm a nice person I guess."

Looking at the girl in front of him, the girl that has shown him more attitude than he had ever seen before, he found himself intrigued by her. Looking down at his swollen stinging fist he nodded.

"Sure, thanks."

Haley smiled, and she too nodded her head. "Okay, follow me."

The two started to cross the street in silence. Looking up at him, Haley was astonished by his length. She didn't think she had ever seen anyone as tall before, let alone quite as good looking. Beginning to feel herself stare, she immediately looked down on the ground.

_Idiot, Idiot…he is totally going to think I was checking him out! Idiot!_

He noticed her looking at him. Nathan smirked to himself. Trying his hardest not to show it, he spoke instead.

"So, um…just in case you don't know I'm Nathan." Nathan's face crinkled with confusion when she scoffed.

"Up yourself much?" She asked, looking up at him with a smile on her face.

"What?"

" 'In case you don't know'" she mimicked, rolling her eyes and looking down to the ground again. "What? Is everybody supposed to know of you and your existence?" she teased.

"What? No…I… I just…-"

Haley laughed at the way he was lost for words. "I'm Haley," she finally said.

Nathan smiled. "It's nice to meet you Haley."

….

"Wait," Nathan stopped when they got to Haley's house. "Doesn't Brooke live here?"

Haley nodded her head. _Figures those two know each other_ she thought. _Populars stick together_.

"Yep, but she wont be here. In fact I don't think anybody is in," she spoke as she opened her front door.

"So you and Brooke know each other?" Nathan asked, following her into the kitchen.

"Yeah…it's a long story," she repeated her earlier comment to Mouth.

Nathan sensed that she didn't want to go into detail so he let the comment drop. Sitting on the seat at the kitchen counter he watched her try and reach for the top cupboard.

"You need help?" he asked, beginning to get out of his seat.

Haley shook her head. "No." She looked back at him, a slight smile gracing her face. "Your only drip blood everywhere anyway."

Nathan laughed. He didn't know what it was about this girl but surprisingly he was beginning to forget about his situation with his father.

When Haley finally reached the first aid box up in the top cupboard, somewhere where Maria – the maid- had shown her in case of emergencies, she made her way to the kitchen island. Grabbing a cold cloth she started to wash all the blood off of his hand.

"This might sting a little bit," she warned.

Looking down at Haley wash his hand, Nathan felt a bit awkward.

"Do you know, if this is where you are living, it makes us neighbours. I live right across the street" he stated, trying to bring up a conversation because feeling her touch his hand like that felt weird…different…strange…nice? Weird, it had to be weird. Right?

……………………………….

Three hours later Haley was sitting in her bedroom, looking out of her window and talking on the phone to her eldest sister.

"So you sure you had a good first day at school?" Vivian asked down the phone, for what seemed like the hundredth time.

Haley rolled her eyes. "Yes," she sighed. "Of course I would rather still be at home but hey…there seems to be some pretty cool people here." She smiled. "I like it."

"Yeah," Vivian spoke, "I'm not sure if I like the thought of you hanging around with a group of boys-"

"What?" Haley laughed into the speaker. "Come on-"

"Look I'm just looking out for you Hales, you're always hearing about teenage boys in the media today. I'm not sure if they are a good influence on you."

"What? Well okay, but really you have nothing to worry about Viv. Honestly, if you saw them you wouldn't be threatened."

"What, with the names like Junk and Skills? They sound like some serious gang member names there babe," Vivian expressed. "What is up with those names anyway?"

Twiddling the phone cord round her finger, Haley laughed. "They're not 'gang' names Viv. God, shows your one to stereotype huh?"

"What? Well who calls themselves Junk?" Vivian asked, genuinely perplexed by the idea of the ridiculous sounding names.

"I can't really say I've asked them Viv. It's not usually the first thing you ask when your being introduced but," she started to giggle. "Saying that, when I first heard Mouth's name I did kind of blurt out 'What _that_ is your name'…is that a bit rude?" She asked. Biting her bottom lip, a habit that she tended to do, she let go of the phone cord and crossed her legs, looking out of her bedroom window.

"No," Vivian laughed. "I would have done the same thing."

The two carried on an easy conversation after that. Vivian letting Haley know about how Annie was getting on, asking Haley about Dad ect…

"I'm sure you two will get along soon babe," she gently reassured.

"Well whatever, I'm getting to the point where I don't care Viv. He has seriously changed; I feel like I hate the man he has become and I feel so guilty for saying that because I know it won't be what mom wants-"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous Haley. Mom would only want you to be happy. You know that."

"Yeah I suppose," Haley whispered, looking out of her window again. This time, however, she was distracted by the sound of a ball being bounced. Looking across the street she was surprised to see Nathan dribbling the ball at the side of his house throwing it in a basketball hoop.

_Oh my god, he was serious. He really does live across the street. _

"Oh Hales, I'm so sorry babe but Annie has just called for me. I'm going to have to go."

"Oh, okay," Haley spoke, still distracted by the sight of the boy that caused her much mystery.

"I love you babe, I'll call you tomorrow."

"Okay, I love you too. Oh and tell Annie and Mark I love them as well. I miss you," Haley spoke down the phone, smiling when she heard Annie shout 'I love you too Hawey.'

When she and Vivian finally come off the phone with each other, she looked back at Nathan. However, this time he wasn't there.

Shaking her head she sighed.

_God Haley, he is __not__ the kind of guy to get involved with. _Her subconscious was telling her. _He is not a nice guy….well at least that's what you thought at school. Earlier he showed a different side….._

Haley stood up from the window and tried to shake her thoughts out of her head. She hadn't asked Nathan what had caused him to go psycho at the tree earlier…whatever it was must be pretty serious which meant it was personal. None of her business. Of course it wasn't…but her mind did keep wondering. Especially the way he looked so vulnerable when he asked her not to mention it to anyone when he was leaving.

It made her think that there was more to Nathan Scott that meet the eye.


End file.
